Department for Transport

Large Goods Vehicle Drivers: Recruitment

Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking toincrease the number of lorry drivers to fill workforce shortages.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: We are supporting apprenticeships, including to train lorry drivers. A revised standard will be available from 1 August 2021 attracting £7,000 in apprenticeship levy funding. There is also an incentive payment of £3,000 available for new apprentices of any age with an employment start date of 1 April 2021 to 30 September 2021.The Department for Work and Pensions is developing a scheme to train jobseekers in HGV driving. The Flexible Support Fund is available to help the unemployed or those in receipt of Universal Credit renew their Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC).The Department has provided a grant for the non-profit initiative Road to Logistics to train military service leavers, ex-offenders and the long term unemployed to move into jobs in the logistics sector, including lorry driving.

Large Goods Vehicle Drivers: Vacancies

Lord Rogan: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any department provided advice in the period up to and including 31 January 2020 noting a possible shortage of HGV drivers after the UK’s departure from the EU; and if so, whether they will deposit all internal Government correspondence that relates to this matter in the House of Lords library.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The shortage of HGV drivers is longstanding and predates the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union.Publishing all government advice on this issue could not be done without incurring disproportionate costs.

Roads: Greater London

Lord Pearson of Rannoch: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 24 June (HL1198), whether they will now answer the question put, namely, what assessment they have made of the economic benefits that might be realised if responsibility for roads in London was transferred from the Mayor of London and Transport for London to the Department for Transport.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: Transport is devolved in London, and the Government has no plans to assess the benefits of reversing devolved arrangements for the capital.

Customs: Ashford

Baroness Randerson: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend toundertake works to mitigate the impact of lighting at the Sevington Inland Border facility.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: In response to residents’ concerns, the Department commissioned a detailed lighting survey. This confirmed that site lighting is within recommended levels. However, the survey identified several potential improvements which are being implemented as a priority. These include checking and reducing luminance levels, installing baffles, and checking the angle of lighting. In addition, lighting in the north west and south east parking areas – which are not currently in use- has been switched off. The Department is exploring additional lighting controls providing dimming options tailored to operational activity, and the height of the columns. These improvements will be considered alongside the need to maintain a safe level of lighting for the site to operate 24/7.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Professions: Regulation

Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the total amount of funding available as part of the pilot grant funding programme for UK professional and business services regulators announced on 29 June.

Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the maximum size of the grant available to regulators as part of the pilot grant funding programme for UK professional and business services regulators announced on 29 June.

Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) how many, and (2) which, regulators will be eligible for the pilot grant funding programme for UK professional and business services regulators announced on 29 June.

Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: To ask Her Majesty's Government why they decided to launch a pilot grant funding programme for UK professional and business services regulators rather than establishing such a programme on a permanent basis.

Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: The Government announced the Pilot Recognition Arrangements Grant Programme on 29 June, and it opened to applications on 8 July. Guidance on the application process is available on GOV.UK. The programme is targeted at supporting the costs of acquiring additional technical expertise incurred by regulatory and professional bodies in preparing for or negotiating a recognition arrangement. Many regulators and professional bodies have agreed recognition arrangements already, this programme will support the establishment of additional recognition arrangements. Successful applicants will be able to apply for reimbursement of 80% of eligible costs for technical expertise to support the agreement of recognition arrangements. Regulators will be able to seek reimbursement of up to £20,000 for individual applicant bodies and £40,000 for groups of applicants. Eligible regulators and professional bodies will be required to submit a business case to apply for funding, and applications will be assessed and ranked against objective criteria. The total grant funding available under the pilot programme is £210,000. The programme is open to regulators that control access to professions regulated in law, and professional bodies that award professional titles and voluntarily regulate professions without underpinning legislation. These bodies must operate within at least one of the four UK nations and must operate within the Professional and Business Services sector, in professions such as accounting, audit, engineering and legal services. The Government has launched the grant programme as a pilot in order to assess the demand and potential value-add of government funding for recognition agreements. The programme will initially run for this financial year only and will undergo monitoring and evaluation to assess the efficacy of direct financial support for regulators and professional bodies in this area. Consideration will then be given as to whether the programme should be extended or not.

Department of Health and Social Care

Pain: Young People

Lord Beecham: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reports that the number of people aged 16-34 suffering from chronic pain increased from 21 per cent to 34 per cent between 2011 and 2017, what steps they plan to take to address that increase.

Lord Bethell: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has made a number of recommendations for research on managing chronic pain, including the use of psychological therapies, acupuncture and pharmacological interventions.NHS England and NHS Improvement are collaborating with stakeholders such as Versus Arthritis to co-produce and coordinate a strategy. Versus Arthritis have been commissioned to produce a decision support tool based on NICE guidance which can help people living with pain and their clinical teams understand all evidence-based options available. Alongside this tool, NHS England and NHS Improvement will also be publishing a commissioning framework to help local services reduce opioid prescribing in summer 2021.

Department for Education

Students: Special Educational Needs

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the ability of local authorities to sufficiently support special educational needs students.

Baroness Berridge: We are committed to ensuring greater stability of services for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) as we enter the recovery phase following the COVID-19 outbreak.We aim to have clear oversight of local areas’ performance in delivering SEND services – including those that had weaknesses before the COVID-19 outbreak, and those that are struggling to respond to the challenges that the COVID-19 outbreak has brought. With this in mind, in April Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) re-started their programme of revisits to areas where SEND services need to improve and a Written Statement of Action was required. Full inspections recommenced in June.We are working closely with Ofsted, the CQC, our professional advisory service and our delivery support partners to identify, support and intervene effectively and early in under-performing areas.We recognise the need to strengthen accountability in the SEND system. That is why the Department for Education, with the support of the Department for Health and Social Care, has commissioned Ofsted and the CQC to develop a new area SEND inspection framework, which will launch after the existing inspection cycle has finished.Learning from the published assessment of the current approach, the new framework will include a greater focus on the experience of children and young people with SEND and their families, and give more prominence to the quality, integration and commissioning of education, health and care services. The new framework will also take into account the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on services and on children, young people and families.

Work Experience: Coronavirus

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the early careers survey by Prospects, Work experience during a crisis,published in May; and what plans they have to offer incentives to businesses to employ work experience students.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay: We are aware that because of the global COVID-19 pandemic 2021 graduates have had increased periods of online learning, resulting in fewer opportunities to gain work experience, which are experiences that traditionally help students to develop employability skills.We have worked closely with the Quality Assurance Agency, professional bodies and the Office for Students (OfS) to ensure that students continue to leave university with qualifications that have real value, reflect their hard work and allow them to make progress in their lives and careers. We also welcome the innovative ways that universities have developed to ensure that students still receive valuable experience (for example, through simulations and virtual practice).We recognise the importance of real-life work experience to complement training, and a number of our skills policies link skills training to jobs. Apprenticeships are jobs with training, and we are currently offering employers £3,000 as an incentive to take on new apprentices. New T Levels are a high-quality equivalent to A levels and include an industry placement with an employer. We are currently supporting the largest-ever expansion of traineeships, which is a skills development programme that includes a work placement. We are offering £1,000 incentive payments for employers offering traineeship work placements.To provide additional support, we have developed the ‘Graduate employment and skills guide’, which was published on 10 May on the OfS’s website: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/for-students/student-outcomes-and-employability/graduate-employment-and-skills-guide/apply-for-jobs/. We have also worked with Universities UK to develop a Sector Statement of Support, which was published on 10 May on their website. The statement outlines what HE providers and the government are doing to support graduates, and it encourages graduates to take advantage of the support and resources available.We have also engaged with higher education providers to produce a collection of graduate employability case-studies. Published on the provider-facing pages of the OfS website, these case-studies showcase the breadth of innovative work and range of new measures that university and college careers services have introduced to support final-year students and recent graduates as they move from university to graduate life.

Ministry of Justice

Community Orders

Lord Marlesford: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many hours of unpaid work have been completed as part of Community Sentences in each of the last five years.

Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: The number of UPW hours delivered in the last five years are:April 2016 to March 2017: 5,581,803April 2017 to March 2018: 5,381,903April 2018 to March 2019: 5,310,093April 2019 to March 2020: 4,101,917April 2020 to March 2021: 2,117,333 The figures for April 2020 – March 2021 evidence a decline in unpaid work delivery resulting from the pandemic and the need to comply with public health regulations, such as lockdowns and social distancing measures.Prior to 26th June 2021, Community Rehabilitation Companies were responsible for the delivery of unpaid work. Since then, the new unified probation service has assumed responsibility for unpaid work delivery. This has provided an opportunity to re-energise our work, drive up completion rates and deliver better outcomes. We will deliver better quality and more robust unpaid work placements that are highly visible to the public and that meet both punitive and reparative aims. We want to move away from a reliance on individual placements towards incorporating larger national projects with public bodies and charities and we are keen to involve our stakeholders as much as possible in our plans.

Prisoners: Coronavirus

Lord Marlesford: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people serving custodial sentences in England and Wales have died from COVID-19.

Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: Verified data on the total number of prisoners who have died having tested positive for COVID-19, or where there was a clinical assessment that COVID-19 was a contributory factor in their deaths, is published on GOV.UK. The latest published figures are for the period up to 30 June in which 149 prisoner deaths were reported. This figure includes those on remand as well as serving custodial sentences. Of these 149 prisoner deaths, 123 are suspected or confirmed to be due to COVID-19. The remaining 27 deaths are believed to be due to other causes, although the individuals had tested positive for COVID-19.

Community Orders

Lord Marlesford: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that all Community Sentences are completed.

Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: On 26 June, we transitioned to a new model of probation delivery. These reforms will mean that the delivery of key requirements under community sentences is now the responsibility of the Probation Service. Our new probation service is now responsible for sentence management in both England and Wales, along with Accredited Programmes, Unpaid Work, and Structured Interventions. This simplifies delivery, making it easier for those we work with and giving us greater control of staff and resources to be able to deliver reform. It will strengthen rehabilitation by delivering improved better accredited programmes and other rehabilitative interventions, alongside commissioning specialist services from other organisations.We have demonstrated our commitment and ability to deliver an effective probation service despite significant challenges during the pandemic. The Probation Service has prioritised public protection and risk management, as well as delivery of advice to courts, whilst ensuring staff, people on probation, victims and the general public remain safe.Exceptional Delivery Models, which set out how we operate during the pandemic and ensured services could be continued, were implemented across England and Wales. In-person, socially distanced, offender management continued to be the default for those people on probation who posed a higher risk, for example Terrorism Act offenders. For other cohorts, blended supervision models were deployed, involving various combinations of home visits, face to face appointments, telephone or video contact. The delivery of Unpaid Work has been maximised in line with social distancing restrictions throughout the pandemic, keeping staff and offenders safe. Offenders have been working on outdoor projects and those which support the UK’s recovery from Covid-19, and some have completed projects at home where feasible. For Accredited Programmes, we developed alternative delivery formats to enable continued delivery of Programmes remotely or in smaller groups in person where safe to do so, prioritising offenders who posed the highest risk of harm.As social distancing restrictions ease, we are continuing to increase delivery rates across our services. This includes key requirements such as unpaid work and accredited programmes.

Community Orders: Coronavirus

Lord Marlesford: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many hours of unpaid work due to be undertaken as part of Community Sentences given (1) before 23 March 2020, and (2) since that date, have been (a) completed, and (b) deferred as a result of COVID-19 restrictions.

Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: As unpaid work is necessarily often delivered in groups, such work was unavoidably adversely affected by Covid-19. However, unpaid work has not been deferred. Probation worked hard to innovate unpaid work delivery so that some placements could continue to be delivered safely, including home based projects for local charities and offenders supporting vaccination centres. Nevertheless, due to the adverse effect on delivery rates, probation have been managing a backlog of requirements. We are working closely with our CJS partners to accelerate the delivery of unpaid work and, where appropriate, apply for unpaid work orders to be extended so that hours can be completed after the original 12-month period specified in the legislation. There are approximately 5m hours of unpaid work on the caseload currently, 4m (80%) are in relation to requirements that are still within their normal delivery window or agreed extension.Of all UPW requirements on the probation case list as of 26th June 2021For sentences prior to 23/3/2020, 539,236 hours were delivered.For sentences after 23/03/2020, 749,311 hours were delivered. However, this is a dynamic data set. Some of these requirements are still being worked (yet to reach 12 months from sentencing) and others on the backlog (i.e. post 12 months from sentencing) are being pursued for completion.There is often a delay in recording completed UPW hours. UPW completed over the weekend of the 26th and 27th of June 2021 is unlikely to be fully represented in this data. While all reasonable efforts have been taken to ensure the accuracy of this data, the inaccuracy inherent in any large-scale administrative data means data should not be assumed to be fully accurate.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Tigray: Armed Conflict

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the relevance of (1) the Responsibility to Protect doctrine, (2) the UK Approach to Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, and (3) the duty to prevent atrocity crimes, in the context of the war in Tigray.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The UK Government has been at the forefront of the international response throughout the conflict in Tigray. We have engaged directly with the Government of Ethiopia, and that of Eritrea, to press for protection of civilians, unfettered humanitarian access and an end to the conflict. This is in line with our approach to protection of civilians, commitment to Responsibility to Protect and atrocity prevention policy. We have also worked through international fora including the G7 leaders' communique of 13 June.

Africa and South Asia: Radicalism

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support religious scholars and academics to offer counter-radicalising narratives in (1) Afghanistan, (2) Pakistan, and (3) sub-Saharan Africa.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: We are committed to working with partners in fragile environments, including Afghanistan, Pakistan and in sub-Saharan Africa where the risk of radicalisation is most acute. That includes engagement with important influencers such as religious scholars, civil society and community leaders in order to support people vulnerable to recruitment and to address underlying factors which may increase the risk of radicalisation.

Eritrea: Sexual Offences

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that (1) the perpetrators of sexual violence in Eritrea are brought to justice, (2) evidence of sexual violence in that country is collected and preserved, and (3) UN investigators have the necessary access to conduct an assessment of reported atrocities; and what steps they are taking to deploy UK experts in preventing sexual violence in conflict to Eritrea.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: We have deployed from the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative UK Team of Experts. Recommendations from an initial scoping mission by them will outline options for supporting the Government of Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and other key stakeholders to safely collect and preserve evidence, and bring the perpetrators of sexual violence to justice. The UK fully supports the joint investigation involving the UN Office of the High Commission for Human Rights.

Tigray: Armed Forces

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to broker talks between the government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front; and what discussions they have had with the governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea about withdrawing armed forces from the Tigray region.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Dialogue and reconciliation is required for an inclusive political process to be initiated. The UK endorses African Union Commission Chairperson Faki's views that a comprehensive and all-encompassing permanent ceasefire is necessary to pave the way for sustainable peace in Tigray. We will continue to urge all parties to the conflict to end violence and seek a political resolution.

Tigray: Famine

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to avert a famine in Tigray; and in particular, what discussions they have had with the governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea (1) to remove roadblocks, and (2) to open the ports of Assab and Massawa.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The UK has allocated £47.7m to respond to the Tigray crisis, to help aid get to those in need and address famine risk through the provision of healthcare, sanitation, and nutrition. We have have consistently called for unfettered humanitarian access.

Armed Conflict: Sexual Offences

Baroness Hodgson of Abinger: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many peoplewill be working on the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative agenda by October.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Information on roles undertaken by employees in the delegated grades (i.e. below Director level) is not held centrally.

Armed Conflict: Gender Based Violence and Sexual Offences

Baroness Hodgson of Abinger: To ask Her Majesty's Government what actions they expect to complete in pursuit of (1) the Women, Peace and Security agenda, and (2) the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative, by the end of the present National Action Planpursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in 2022.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The UK continues to champion the ethos of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) through our National Action Plan (NAP) on WPS (2018-2022). We will continue to focus our work to ensure better protection and empowerment of women in conflict situations overseas through our diplomatic, development and defence engagements alongside our bilateral and multilateral partners. We will work to achieve this through the seven Strategic Outcomes of the NAP. For example, we remain committed to ensuring women have full, equal and meaningful participation in peacekeeping; providing £1.2m this financial year to the Elsie Initiative Fund to increase the number of uniformed women in peace operations. The UK will also continue to tackle gender-based violence, particularly violence against women and girls as the most prevalent form of gender-based violence.The Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative will continue to deliver policy and programme interventions supporting its objectives of strengthening pathways to justice for all survivors of sexual violence in conflict, holding the perpetrators to account and enhancing support available to all survivors and children born of conflict-related sexual violence, including tackling the stigma they face.

Environment: Crime

Baroness Whitaker: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park on9 June (HL981), what plans they have to propose amendments to the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court to include the crime of ecocide by amending preambular paragraph 2 and article 8 of the Rome Statute, as proposed by the Stop Ecocide Foundation in their document Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide,published on 22 June.

Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park: Ecocide is not a crime recognised under existing international law and there is currently no consensus on its legal definition. Its removal from the drafting process of the Rome Statute was significant in gaining agreement on the crimes included within the International Criminal Court's jurisdiction.The Rome Statute already provides for some protections to the natural environment in armed conflict, designating intentional attacks that knowingly and excessively cause widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment as a war crime.The UK's priority is to reform and strengthen the Court to function efficiently and effectively and deliver successful prosecutions. This is a major State-Party driven process where the involvement of States Parties is fundamental to success. A significant amendment such as this is unlikely to achieve the support of the 82 States necessary to pass the amendment.

Department for Work and Pensions

Disability Living Allowance

Lord Young of Cookham: To ask Her Majesty's Government how much was paid inDisability Living Allowance in the latest year for which figures are available.

Lord Young of Cookham: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many individuals received Disability Living Allowance in the latest year for which figures are available.

Baroness Stedman-Scott: From the latest published benefit expenditure and caseload tables, in 2019/20 the average caseload of people in receipt of Disability Living Allowance was 1.539 million, with nominal terms expenditure of £7.233 billion.

National Insurance

Lord Lucas: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many National Insurance numbers were valid on 21 March.

Baroness Stedman-Scott: The Information for 21 March is not available.

Pension Service: Standards

Lord Black of Brentwood: To ask Her Majesty's Government what use they have made of (1) focus groups, and (2) other qualitative techniques, to improve the functioning of (a) the Pension Service, and (b) the Department for Work and Pensions.

Baroness Stedman-Scott: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) makes extensive use of qualitative techniques to improve the functions of its services, extensive examples can be found on gov.uk by searching ‘government/ collections/ research-reports’. With specific reference to improving the functioning of Pension Service – the Department has not undertaken a stand-alone qualitative research project examining this issue in isolation. The Department does however undertake a regular customer experience survey with a range of DWP services, including state pension customers. The survey includes questions around being treated with respect, speed of service delivered and overall satisfaction. The latest published report can be found on the gov.uk website by searching ‘DWP claimant service and experience survey 2018 to 2019’.

Pension Service: Standards

Lord Black of Brentwood: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will conduct a review of the template letters used by (1) the Pension Service, and (2) the Department for Work and Pensions, to ensure communications are as clear and comprehensible as possible.

Baroness Stedman-Scott: The Department is committed to making template letters clear, understandable and accessible for all customers. However, we have introduced improved letters for new State Pension customers and we are currently in the process of reviewing and revising Pension Credit letters. As part of these reviews, research is undertaken with a wide range of individuals - and their representatives - who will or have received these benefits. The findings from the research is then used to inform development of the letters which are tested with customers before being introduced for wider use. The Department’s intention is to gradually update all template letters as part of plans to modernise services. This is a long-term plan due to the complexity and volume of letters.

Pension Service: Standards

Lord Black of Brentwood: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, if any, to improve the customer service provided by the Pension Service across all types of contact, including by (1) the call centres, and (2) the correspondence units.

Baroness Stedman-Scott: The Department is committed to delivering high quality customer service in line with Departmental Quality standards. We undertake regular checks on the quality of work undertaken by our staff including monitoring telephone calls and written correspondence. Feedback from customers on the quality of our service is important to us. We act on this quickly to resolve issues and address areas for improvement.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Pigs and Poultry: Animal Feed

Lord Empey: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessmentthey have made of the decision by the EU to lift the ban on feeding animal remains to pigs and poultry.

Lord Empey: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to retain the ban on the feeding of animal remains to farm livestock in England.

Lord Empey: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the decision by the EUto allow animal remains to be fed to farm livestock will result in this practice being permitted in Northern Ireland.

Lord Empey: To ask Her Majesty's Government what impact the decision by the EU to permit the feeding of animal remains to farm livestock will have on the importation of animal products into Great Britain from Northern Ireland.

Lord Benyon: The EU is introducing legislative changes which follow their agreed TSE roadmaps. These proposals would authorise for the EU: processed animal protein (PAP) of porcine origin to be fed to poultry and PAP of poultry origin to be fed to porcine animals; animal protein derived from insects to be fed to poultry and porcine animals, under the same conditions as are already required for feeding aquaculture animals; and products containing ruminant collagen and gelatine to be fed to poultry and porcine animals. The rules will still be more stringent than those required by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) which only ban the use of ruminant proteins in feed for ruminant animals. Pigs and poultry have not been shown to be susceptible to TSE. The proposals will not affect the existing bans on feeding animal proteins to ruminants and on intra-species recycling (feeding an animal with a product derived from the same species), and they do not include high-risk animal by-products which are incinerated. Nor would they permit the feeding of animal remains to farmed livestock, which is banned in the UK and the EU.The restrictions on feeding of livestock in England will not be altered by EU legislation. Before taking any policy decision, officials would obtain advice from Government scientists and from the Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP) regarding any potential risk to human or animal health; and engage closely with groups representing consumers, retailers, producers, farmers and other interested stakeholders. Animal Health is a devolved matter, so this policy is devolved to the Scottish and the Welsh Ministers for their respective territories. Under the terms of the Northern Ireland Protocol, the amendments will apply to Northern Ireland. The UK does not ban the imports of pig and poultry meat products from countries where the feed rules comply with the OIE requirements. This means that imports of pig and poultry meat products from the EU or Northern Ireland will continue to be accepted into Great Britain.

Climate Change

Lord Roberts of Llandudno: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the UK is prepared for sustained periods of unusually high temperatures.

Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park: Adapting to current and predicted changes to our climate is vital across the economy, including preparing for extremes. There are a range of activities we are taking across government to manage and prepare for the impacts of high temperatures, including in the health and built environment sectors. These include adapting our health systems to protect people against the impacts of overheating, such as ensuring all clinical areas in NHS Trusts have appropriate thermal monitoring. The Heatwave Plan for England aims to protect public health from heat-related harms and is supported by the Heat-Health Alert Early Warning System. This is run by Public Health England (PHE) in collaboration with the Met Office. These form part of the Heatwave and Summer preparedness programme, led by PHE, which became operational on 1 June 2021. Heat-Health Alerts are cascaded through the health and care system, including National Health Service providers and commissioners, social care and local government. The Extreme Heat National Severe Weather Warning Service (NSWWS) was also launched on 1 June 2021 to warn the public and emergency responders whenever a severe or prolonged hot weather episode is forecast. Overheating in buildings has been highlighted as a key risk for the health and productivity of people in the United Kingdom. Through the Future Buildings Standard consultation, the Government, led by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, has proposed a new overheating mitigation requirement to reduce the risk of overheating in new residential buildings. The Future Buildings Standard consultation was launched on 19 January 2021 and closed on 13 April 2021. We plan to regulate later this year. Defra, its agencies and partners are also preparing for the impacts of climate change on the natural environment, including from high temperatures. For example, Natural England and the RSPB’s updated Adaptation Manual (2020) addresses issues associated with high temperatures for freshwater species and habitats, and the role of riparian trees in keeping rivers cool.

Home Office

Offences Against Children: Internet

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions, if any, they have had with the Internet Watch Foundation about obliging internet service providers (1) to block child pornography, and (2) to help prevent the sexual abuse of children.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: As set out in the Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy, the Internet Watch Foundation is a vitally important partner and plays a crucial role in tackling online child sexual exploitation and abuse, including blocking access to child sexual abuse material.The Government routinely engages the Internet Watch Foundation including recently on addressing self-generated indecent imagery where we strongly support the joint Internet Watch Foundation and NSPCC ‘Report Remove’ initiative. The Home Office has also funded the Internet Watch Foundation to deliver a campaign helping both children and parents to understand the risks which can be posed online, specifically around youth-produced sexual imagery.

Immigration: EU Nationals

Lord Campbell-Savours: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether a person (1) born in the EU, (2) with an EU Member State passport, (3) who is married to a UK citizen, and (4) has (a) resided, and (b) been employed, in the UK for over 20 years, including paying taxes or drawing pension payments, is required to apply for revised domiciliary or another form of changed residency status.

Lord Campbell-Savours: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether a person (1) born in an (a) European Economic Area, or (b) European Free Trade Area, state other than the UK, (2) who carries a non-UK passport, (3) who is married to a UK citizen, and (4) has (a) resided, and (b) been employed, in the UK for over 20 years including paying taxes or drawing pension payments, is required to apply for revised domiciliary or another form of changed residency status.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: EU, European Economic Area (EEA) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) nationals now require UK immigration status to live in the UK. Where they do not already hold such status, they may obtain it under the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS), where they were resident in the UK by 31 December 2020 or are a family member joining such a person, or under the points-based immigration system.EU, EEA and EFTA nationals who acquired a right of permanent residence here under EU law still need to apply for status under the EUSS.Those who already have indefinite leave to enter or remain in the UK do not need to apply for EUSS status, but may do so, free of charge, if they wish, to take advantage of the additional rights available to them under the Citizens’ Rights Agreements.

Peers: Surveillance

Lord Balfe: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to assist members of the House of Lords on whom MI5 hold files to submit a request to see those files.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: Under Part 4 of the Data Protection Act 2018, pertaining to Intelligence services processing, subjects of information held by a UK intelligence service can request this information from the relevant service. Where the data continues to be held, the intelligence services must consider each subject access request on its merits and provide a response accordingly, except where it would be damaging to national security to do so.

Maira Shahbaz

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have received about the case of Maria Shahbaz, who was abducted in Pakistan in April 2020; and what steps they intend to take in response to the petition and letter to the Prime Minister asking that she begranted asylum in the UK.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The tragic case of Maira Shahbaz has attracted significant interest, including the petition by Christian NGO Aid to the Church in Need.The UK Government strongly condemns the forced marriage and forced conversion of women and girls from religious minorities in Pakistan. Our concerns about such cases, as well as Freedom of Religion or Belief, women and girls’ rights and gender equality more broadly, are regularly raised with the Government of Pakistan.However, I am not able to provide specific information with regards to Maira Shahbaz’s case as it is a longstanding Government policy not to comment on individual cases. Departing from this policy may put individuals and their family members in danger.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Housing: Construction

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to assist local councils in building modular housing.

Lord Greenhalgh: The Government is committed to increasing the use of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), including modular housing. MMC has the potential to improve the quality of new homes, deliver more energy efficient homes, reduce construction waste, improve productivity and address the shortage in construction skills.At Budget 2021, we announced the creation of the MMC Taskforce, backed by £10 million of funding, to accelerate the delivery of MMC homes in England. The taskforce will consist of experts from across government and industry to fast-track the adoption of modern methods of construction. Once constituted, the taskforce will work closely with local authorities and mayoral combined authorities.In addition, the Local Authority Acceleration Construction programme provides investment to unlock up to 32,000 additional homes on surplus public sector land more quickly using MMC.The £535 million Small Sites Fund unlocks land for homes on small and stalled housing sites, with MMC requirements within Homes England grant agreements with local authorities for the Fund.

Social Rented Housing: Electrical Safety

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: To ask Her Majesty's Government when the working party considering mandatory electrical safety checks in social housing will report.

Lord Greenhalgh: In the Charter for Social Housing Residents – Social Housing White Paper, we committed to consult on measures to ensure that social housing residents are protected from harm caused by poor electrical safety. Subsequently, we committed to form an official-led stakeholder working group to inform the content of that consultation.The Electrical Safety Working Group is underway and will report in due course.

Local Government: Debts

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government whatsteps they are taking to assist local authorities in managing debt levels.

Lord Greenhalgh: Local authorities borrow and invest under the Prudential Framework. This is a permissive system that gives local authorities wide freedoms for borrowing and investment, and it is for authorities to manage their capital strategies and ensure their borrowing is prudent, affordable and sustainable. However, authorities must operate within the legal bounds of the Framework, which sets the statutory duty to ensure all borrowing is affordable, and have regard to the statutory guidance, which sets out good practice.Government is currently reviewing all elements of the Prudential Framework to ensure it is fit for purpose, and carefully considering where changes are needed to support good investment decision-making and risk management.

Trading Standards

Lord Jones of Cheltenham: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the public of the 52 per cent decline in total net spend by local authorities in England on trading standards services between 2009 and 2019, as set out by Unchecked UK in their reportThe UK's Enforcement Gap, published in October 2020.

Lord Greenhalgh: Councils have flexibility to use the funding they receive from the annual Local Government Finance Settlement for trading standards services. Funding provided through the Settlement is un-ringfenced to ensure local areas can prioritise based on their own understanding of the needs of their local communities. Resources made available through the 2020 Spending Review and annual Settlement allowed councils in England access to an overall increase in Core Spending Power from £49 billion in 2020-21 to up to £51.3 billion in 2021-22, a 4.6% increase in cash terms. This is in line with last year’s available increase. This recognises the resources councils need to meet their pressures and maintain current service levels.   Additionally, Government is supporting regulatory services teams, including trading standards teams, through the Regulatory Services Task and Finish Group, which was established to help coordinate central government’s expectation of regulatory services teams in local government and to propose short and long-term options to support these essential services.

Cabinet Office

Government Departments: LGBT People

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty's Government which of their departments take part in (1) Stonewall's Diversity Champion scheme, and (2) Stonewall's Workplace Index scheme.

Lord True: A list of which Government departments take part in Stonewall’s Diversity Champion or Workplace Index scheme is not held centrally. We are looking into the matter and I will write to the Noble Lord with further information in due course.

Government Departments: LGBT People

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to recent statements by the Equality and Human Rights Commission aboutits withdrawal from the Stonewall Diversity Champions scheme, what steps they are taking to ensure their departments are (1) inclusive workplaces, (2) attracting people from all backgrounds, and (3) workplaces where every employee is treated in line with the Equality Act 2010.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to recent statements by the Equality and Human Rights Commission about its withdrawal from the Stonewall Diversity Champion scheme, what steps they are taking to ensure their expenditure on workplace diversity and inclusion initiatives (1) offers value for money, (2) is fairly balanced, and (3) is reasonable and proportionate, taking into account the rights of all persons with any of the protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010.

Lord True: The Government has committed to a new standard for diversity and inclusion in the Civil Service which will promote a diversity of backgrounds and opinions. We are committed to fair, inclusive workplaces which draw on the talents of the widest possible range of backgrounds, especially people from non-traditional educational routes and from outside London and the South East. It is fundamental that everyone is able to seize opportunities in the workplace without fear of discrimination or harassment. Memberships of external schemes are kept under review, to ensure value for taxpayers’ money. A number of public bodies have resolved to best champion inclusion through internal programmes.

Cybercrime

Baroness Merron: To ask Her Majesty's Government when the updated Cyber Strategy will be published.

Lord True: The Integrated Review published in March set a goal of cementing the UK’s position as a leading responsible and democratic cyber power, and committed to launching a new comprehensive cyber strategy in 2021 to implement this vision. The strategy will set out how we will build up the UK’s cyber resilience; deter our adversaries; and influence tomorrow’s technologies so they are safe, secure and open. Work is well underway to develop the new strategy, and the government plans to continue engaging with partners before publishing it later this year and aligning with funding decisions in the next Spending Review.

Employment: Human Rights

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure their workplace policies and procedures do not potentially infringe any person's ability to enjoy their fundamental rights and freedoms under the Human Rights Act 1998.

Lord True: When formulating and reviewing workplace policies and procedures, government departments have due regard for all legal requirements, including the rights and freedoms in Schedule 1 of the Human Rights Act 1998.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Voluntary Work

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government whatassessment they have made of the report by British FutureOur Chance to Reconnect,published in March; and what steps they are taking to make it easier for people to volunteer in their local community.

Baroness Barran: Her Majesty’s Government welcomes the findings of the report and its contribution to our understanding of civil society during the pandemic. As documented, the scale and breadth of the volunteer response over the last year has been remarkable; as the study estimated, 12.4 million people volunteered during the pandemic, 4.6 million of them volunteering for the first time. Government would like to express its gratitude to all those who volunteered for their contributions, whether through continuing or taking up a formal role with an organisation, or national schemes such as the NHS Volunteer Responders programme, or the extraordinary 2.5 million people who undertook local acts of neighbourliness as coordinated through over 4,000 mutual aid groups. Undoubtedly our experience of the pandemic would have been very different without them. As outlined by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, our approach to the government's role in volunteering is as a steward, enabling further unlocking of the potential within the volunteering sector as we seek to build a volunteering legacy from this challenging time. To meet this ambition, DCMS is developing policy with a focus on simplifying the routes into volunteering, how volunteering supply and demand can be best matched and leveraging government’s links with the voluntary and community sector for strategic collaboration. Developing solutions to address the barriers facing those who wish to volunteer in their local community will be an integral element of our work. Beyond this, the Government continues to celebrate and champion extraordinary individuals who volunteer across the United Kingdom through the Prime Minister’s daily Points of Light Awards, and remains committed to promoting the benefits of volunteering both to personal wellbeing and community cohesion.